Backblaze users can now activate and use two-factor verification on their Backblaze Online Backup account. When enabled, two-factor verification, known widely as two-factor authentication, requires that a person present both their account credentials and a verification code from a second device to gain access to their Backblaze account. This feature is available immediately to all… Continue reading Two-Factor Verification for Backblaze
Year: 2015
Upgrading Your OS: Windows 10 Edition
Thinking about upgrading to Windows 10? Anytime you upgrade your OS there are potential pitfalls. So before you start installing Windows 10, do the following to ensure a smooth upgrade! Windows 10 was just released by Microsoft this week and we already have numerous Backblaze subscribers that have updated to the latest operating system from… Continue reading Upgrading Your OS: Windows 10 Edition
Hard Drive Reliability Stats for Q2 2015
Each quarter, Backblaze updates our hard drive statistics with the latest data. As of the end of Q2 2015, there were 47,561 drives spinning in our datacenter. Subtracting out boot drives, drive models with less than 45 drives and drives in testing systems, we are publishing data on 46,038 hard drives spread across 21 different models, from 1.5TB to 8.0TB in size.
Helping Hands: Steve Joins the Data Center
We’ve never had an intern in the data center before, but that changed last week when Larry’s son Steve joined the data center ranks! We needed an extra set of hands to move and tear down a lot of our old chassis, and Steve was a willing victim volunteer! Lets learn a bit more about… Continue reading Helping Hands: Steve Joins the Data Center
How to Make the Most of Working Remotely
I’m sitting in a hotel room in a small remote town in the south of Germany, where I’m spending the week working. I did not come here because of a customer, partner, or work event. Instead my wife and I coordinated a week of vacation in Berlin with a work trip for her in this… Continue reading How to Make the Most of Working Remotely
We Need a Data Center Facilities Manager!
Thank you for your interest, but this position has been filled. Please check out our jobs page for additional great opportunities at Backblaze. The Backblaze Data Center team is responsible for Backblaze’s cloud infrastructure. This is the team that defines our data center requirements and finds and/or builds facilities that meet our needs. This team… Continue reading We Need a Data Center Facilities Manager!
You Can Never Have Too Many Brians
Because we like to order large batches of name tags, we have to continue hiring Brians. Our latest intern continues the Brian trend! He’s joining us for a few weeks and working on some back-end and mobile projects; awesome! Let’s get to know Brian number five a bit better, shall we? What is your Backblaze… Continue reading You Can Never Have Too Many Brians
What You Would Do With a Storage Pod
A few weeks ago, we held a contest offering a free Storage Pod chassis as a prize to people who came up with creative ways to use/reuse a Backblaze Storage Pod chassis. The response was outstanding! We reviewed all the submissions and selected 20 we thought the most deserving—it was hard work. Here are some… Continue reading What You Would Do With a Storage Pod
Happy 4th of July!
Happy July 4th to everyone in the USA. Backblaze is celebrating the 4th of July with a blaze of our own! Have a safe and wonderful Independence Day!
Director of Marketing, Jim, Joins Backblaze
The hiring continues at Backblaze (anyone know a good Senior Automation Engineer?), and the newest addition to the team is Jim! Jim’s joining the Marketing team as the Director of Marketing! It’s been a while since our team has grown and we couldn’t be more excited! Let’s learn a bit more about Jim, shall we?… Continue reading Director of Marketing, Jim, Joins Backblaze
Kelly Joins Us as a Sr. Front-End Developer!
We’re pleased to announce Kelly joining the Backblaze team. We’re thrilled to have a dedicated front-end developer around to make the site more whiz-bang awesome! Bilingual in Vietnamese and English, Kelly has previously worked at Skunkworks (Vietnam) and Skype in Palo Alto. Let’s learn a bit more about Kelly, shall we? What is your Backblaze… Continue reading Kelly Joins Us as a Sr. Front-End Developer!
Why Backblaze Bought a Porn Site
What’s in a Domain Name? When Brian Wilson (our CTO) co-founded Backblaze, he already had a website called www.codeblaze.com (it was designed in the early 2000s by Casey Jones, who co-founded and designs all things Backblaze). That site had a variety of uses, but the main reason for it was that Brian needed a website… Continue reading Why Backblaze Bought a Porn Site
Computer Backup: Pick a Card, Any Card
Earlier this month, we blogged about the results from our 2015 Annual Backup Awareness Survey. There were charts and tables and numbers, and as everyone read it, their eyes glazed over and they drifted into a sound sleep. For the last eight years, we’ve collected, parsed, and presented this data each June. The upshot is… Continue reading Computer Backup: Pick a Card, Any Card
iMac Recall: Don’t Replace That Hard Drive Before Reading
Yesterday, Apple announced that they were going to be replacing 3TB hard drives that were found in some of the 2012 and 2013 27 inch iMacs. We have a feeling we know what’s going on here, especially if those drives were 3TB Seagates, and it sounds like they were! Backup Before You Replace Your Apple… Continue reading iMac Recall: Don’t Replace That Hard Drive Before Reading
Wanted: Senior Automation Engineer
Thank you for your interest, but this position has been filled. Please check out our jobs page for additional great opportunities at Backblaze. Backblaze continues to grow and we need a Senior Automation Engineer to help us do it! Please note, even though “automation” is in the position title, this position does not involve self-driving… Continue reading Wanted: Senior Automation Engineer
Backblaze Open-sources Reed-Solomon Erasure Coding Source Code
At Backblaze we have built an extremely cost-effective storage system that enables us to offer a great price on our online backup service. Along the path to building our storage system, we have used time-tested technologies off the shelf, but we have also built in-house technologies ourselves when things weren’t available, or when the price… Continue reading Backblaze Open-sources Reed-Solomon Erasure Coding Source Code
Backblaze Mobile 2.0 for iOS
Easy Remote File Access Backblaze is proud to announce that Backblaze Mobile 2.0 for iOS is now available for your iPhone, iPad, iPad Mini, or iPod Touch to access, download, experience, and share the files you have backed up with Backblaze Online Backup. Supporting a wide assortment of iOS devices and packed with new features… Continue reading Backblaze Mobile 2.0 for iOS
Locker: Cryptolocker Progeny Awakens
At midnight on May 25th, a dormant strain of ransomware awoke and began to wreak havoc on the systems and networks it had infected. The ransomware, known as Locker, was continuing in the footsteps of its ancestors, (Cryptolocker, CTB Locker, Cryptowall, and others) infecting systems, encrypting files, and then extorting money from people, businesses, and… Continue reading Locker: Cryptolocker Progeny Awakens